BHIMAYANA

CIA 3
PRESENTED BY:

KAILASH – 1811011
SUJENDHIRAN – 1811037
VISHWAK – 1811045
SUSHMA – 1811069
THENDRAL – 1811070
HITARTH - 1811074
Writers:
Srividya Natarajan, S. Anand

Pardhan Gond Artists:

Durgabai Vyam, Subash Vyam

Publisher:
Navayana Publishing

Originally launched on:

2011

Genre:
Historical biography, Socio- politics, Graphic novel

Based on:
Waiting For A Visa (1935-36)
Story of a boy named Bhim.
Bhim is a Mahar, an untouchable.

Who will later grow up as Dr.

Bhimrao Ambedkar (1891-1956)
was a leading champion of
affirmative action, his labours
anchored to the colossus of caste,
though often he is only blandly
credited with designing India’s
constitution. Beginning in the
1920s, he became the country’s
most vociferous conscience,
criticizing Hindu society’s
oppression of women and Dalits
(formerly untouchables) as being
inherently anti-democratic.
LIFE OF DALITS

•Flushed outside the four-

level Hindu caste structure
topped by Brahmins
(priests)
• Described as impure and
relegated to the rank of
those who should not be
touched.
• Jotirao Phule, a
19th century anti-caste
theorist and reformer, was
first to refer to
untouchables as ‘dalit,’ which
means ‘broken people.’
• All untouchables were denied
basic civic necessities.
•Grocery shops were open to
limited access.
• Primary schooling became
available only because of British
law.
• Using wells and temples and
building imperishable houses
was entirely off-limits.
• Verbal humiliations, thrashings,
and fatal threats were givens
TWO PATHS, SAME DESTINATION.

• Ambedkar developed a model of social justice that was widely vilified

by nationalists and even by Gandhi.

•Ambedkar typically used ‘Depressed Classes’. Meanwhile, Gandhi

popularised ‘harijan’ or ‘children of Hari’.

•The Anti-caste movement by Dalit Panthers made the Dalit people lean
more to the side of Ambedkar.
BHIM’S CALL FOR JUSTICE

•In seeking to reclaim what he

called “human personality,”
Ambedkar’s call to “educate,
organize, and agitate” became a
rallying point in his movement
for social justice.
•First Mahad Satyagraha in
1927.
•Second Mahad Satyagraha later
that year.
• Ambedkar’s decisive segue to
dalit political representation put
him out of favor with the
nationalist elite who called his
demands for equality divisive
and thus detrimental to India’s
struggle for self-rule.
THE YIN AND YANG OF INDIAN
POLITICS

• Gandhi sought Indian freedom

at the cost of silencing the
minorities, which was
unavoidable.

• Ambedkar envisioned India free

from itself or from Brahminism,
“the negation of liberty, equality
and fraternity” which was at that
time impossible.

•Both liberative and domestic

opinions helped India to find a
functioning equilibrium.
THE NEXT FIFTEEN YEARS..

• Ambedkar spoke and published

widely on various issues impacting
dalits, such as water policy, agriculture,
military reform, labour rights, and
Buddhism.

• Ambedkar’s polymathic abilities were

sought after for the highest privilege.
In 1947, he became Chairman of the
Drafting Committee of India’s
constitution and later drafted the
Hindu Code Bill.

• But after a long wait, the

Constituent Assembly rejected the bill
in a majority vote. In 1951, he resigned
from the cabinet.
DONE WITH THE CONSTITUTION

• He criticises Gandhi and the constitution as he quotes

Thucydides: “It may be in your interest to be our master,
but how can it be ours to be your slaves?”

• In October 1956, about six weeks before he died, he

converted to Buddhism an ethically sound religion, along
with an approximate 500,000 followers. Considered to be
the largest single conversion in human history.
BHIMAYANA
The title Bhimayana, which could
be a cheeky send-up on
the Ramayana presents an
alternative epic of heroism.

Constructed as a series of 4
books,
BOOK 1: Water
BOOK 2: Shelter
BOOK 3: Travel
BOOK 4: The Art of Bhimayana
 BACKGROUND
Bhimayana is based on incidents narrated in B.R. Ambedkar's
autobiographical notes. These notes were written in 1935 with the
objective of disseminating information about the practice of untouchability
to foreigners. He documented events from his own life and others’ to
provide an idea of the caste discrimination against dalits that is sanctioned
under Hinduism. Navayana published them as Ambedkar: Autobiographical
Notes in 2003.

Bhimayana’s central character is not Ambedkar alone but also the

degrading grind of dalit life among the 60 million in Ambedkar’s time.
Hence, the title Bhimayana, which could be a cheeky send-up on the
Ramayana, a pivotal Hindu text that recounts the high-caste mythical god
prince Ram’s exile from everyday royal luxuries. Bhimayana’s account of
everyday expulsions from ordinary civic dignities — water, shelter, and
travel — presents an alternative epic of heroism
STORY LINE
Bhimayana is the story of how an extraordinary man’s politics was
instrumental for the indictment of the hydra-like Caste system
rampant in India. Bhimayana seeks to humanise Ambedkar by
providing a graphic account of the ordinary experiences that led to
the emergence of an extraordinary politics.

The story starts with a conversation between an upper caste man

and a Dalit woman. The man, who is in search for a new job, is sulking
about reservations and that gets the woman started. Through the use
of news articles about recent events, she makes him conscious of the
ubiquity of caste based discrimination in India while simultaneously
situating every such incident to the life of Babasaheb Ambedkar.

The book is divided into three major chapters: Water, Shelter and
Travel. As any ordinary human being would, these are the things
Ambedkar seeks in his life. As the young Bhim becomes conscious of
his identity, the struggle for these basic needs translates into
something bigger: the struggle for Equality.
Each chapter is layered with
metaphors. In the first chapter, a
thirsty child in school is made to
look like a fish who pleads to his
teacher for water. Among the
upper castes in the classroom,
Bhim is clearly a fish out of water.
When the young Bhimrao returns
to Baroda from Columbia, his
search for a shelter is also a search
for companionship, comfort and
spiritual recognition. Rejected by
the Parsis at their inn, turned away
by a Christian friend and later
insulted by a Muslim, Bhimrao
learns that no religion is willing to
accommodate Dalits as equal
practitioners. This search for
Shelter lasts all his life until he finds
solace in the Buddha just before his
death.
The book is unapologetically
political in its approach. It is
unsparing of Hinduism, the
Brahmins and Gandhi. At the
same time, it is uniquely
innovative in its narrative
style. While Ambedkar is
quoted throughout, there
are several references to
significant personalities from
his life like his professor at
Columbia, John Dewey. The
poets Namdeo Dhasal and
Dilip Chitre find place in
innovative ways as their
poetry introduces the
reader to the modern day
children of Ambedkar.
The Pardhan Gond artists
use their rich art as they
embrace Ambedkar as one of
their own. They remain true
their own artistic tradition in
their rejection of the usual
boxes and panels choosing
the replace it with the Gond
digna instead. The boundaries
of each digna resemble the
fences one sees in villages.
The Gond love for aquatic
life is wholeheartedly. Other
animals such as the cow,
snakes, peacocks, dogs, lions
and a variety of birds
constitute an important part
of the art work for this book
and have been placed
creative in its narrative.
The story culminates into the most
important events of Ambedkar’s life
towards the end of the book. Namely,
the confrontation with Gandhi over
separate electorates for Dalits, the
drafting of the Constitution for
independent India and the mass
conversion to Buddhism led by
Ambedkar towards the end of his life.
However, the most beautifully
captured moment from Ambedkar’s
life remains the Mahar Satyagraha of
1927. As S. Anand has written, this is
possibly the most innovative use of
gutter space in the history of graphic
art. The struggle for access to water
results in water becoming a panacea
for Dalits.
Ambedkar’s words of wisdom fall on
Dalits like water from sprinklers
Symbolism
Bhimayana chooses the iconic dialectical approach of storytelling through a
conversational style. This has been used by Plato in his ‘Republic’ and Gandhi in
‘Hind Swaraj’ . This is no coincidence. It a choice for the purpose of making the
story most accessible. It is a symbolic statement regarding the historical significance
of the story of Bhim’s life.

The narrative ploy of representing the woman as the Dalit who informs the
nonchalant upper caste man is equally radical. When Ambedkar is thirsty, he
becomes a fish. When Ambedkar is contemplative in Kamathi Baug, he becomes the
garden.

When Ambedkar returns to Baroda after completing his studies in Columbia, his
life takes a full circle. The naive Ambedkar is under the impression that he has risen
above his social status and Caste identity but the Brahmin co passenger on the
train to Baroda is quick to make him conscious of it. The cyclical nature of identity
based oppression is depicted through the circuitous path of the slithering train.
The book uses different bubbles to represent different thought processes. A
person whose thought process is casteist speaks from a snake-like bubble. All
victims of caste based discrimination speak from bird-like bubbles. A third kind
of bubble is the thought bubble that has eyes of its own and represents things
that remain unspoken. In the end, the upper caste man finds himself speaking
the language of the oppressed after having received a lesson in his caste
privilege from the Dalit woman. When he says “Jai Bhim!” to her before
boarding the bus, his speech bubble transforms from a snake to a bird for the
first and only time in the book.

But the most symbolic metaphor in the book remains the use of hands in it.
Hands of all kinds can be found in it. The hand that refuses to touch and hence
leaves behind an echo of casteism is recurring element. Whenever a character
makes a casteist remark, s/he is shown having a progressing trail of hands that
point at the oppressed. Similarly, the Mahars leave a trail of their footsteps
wherever they go. The hands of solidarity, the touch of the hand amongst
Dalits, the strength of the fist and the profound message entailed in a raised
hand with a finger pointing upwards while the other hand carries the book
serve varying purposes in the overarching narrative of Bhimayana.
Book I – Water
‘Water’ sets the scene in 1901, on an ordinary day in Ambedkar's life as a
10-year-old Mahar schoolboy. He is humiliated at the hands of the Brahmin
teacher and the peon who, paranoid about the possibility of contamination,
refuse him water. Young Bhim goes back home where he asks his aunt
why he cannot drink from the tap like other boys, despite being cleaner
than upper-caste students. The text also compares Ambedkar's own lack
of access to water at school with his father's work in Goregaon, which
entails ‘helping build a water tank for famine stricken people who would die
if it weren't for his work’.

Young Bhim along with his siblings is invited to stay with his father in
Masur. They get off the train to find that no one has come to receive them
and seek the station master's help. As soon as they reveal that they are
Mahars, the stationmaster turns hostile. He finds them a cart-ride on the
condition that they pay double. Eventually they find their father's house. It
turns out that his secretary had forgotten to inform him of their arrival.
The narrative voice moves back to the frame story here, and the unnamed
storyteller concludes that Ambedkar said it was because of the secretary's
mistake that he had learnt ‘the most unforgettable lesson about
untouchability’. The section ends with an account of Ambedkar's Mahad
satyagraha against lack of access to water from the Chavadar Tank.
 ART
WORKS
GOND ART
Artwork

 Nature imagery is present throughout the book—fortresses are fierce

beasts; trains are snakes; the road is a peacock's long neck; the handle of a
water pump turns into an elephant's trunk.

 The first section of the book, which deals with the right to water, is full of
water-based imagery—when the young Ambedkar is thirsty, his torso turns
into a fish; and when he urges a crowd to stand up for their rights, the
speakers morph into showers sprinkling water onto the audience.

 A section on shelter has the recurring imagery of the banyan tree and its
many twisted roots. Even the speech bubbles have significance—harsh or
prejudiced words are given a tail like a scorpion's to evoke their sting.

 Gentle words are encased in bubbles shaped like birds, and unspoken
thoughts are given an icon to denote the mind's eye.
 The pages are not formally structured and digna patterns divide
the story into loose frames for a khulla (open) visual imagery.

 Metaphors of carnivores and herbivores are used for Brahmins

and dalits respectively.

 The speech-bubbles carry clues about narrative sympathy—the

speech bubble issuing from young Bhim is in the shape of a bird,
while the speech-bubble issuing from the peon is in the shape of
a scorpion. This technique is used throughout the book.

 Anthropomorphism is also used as the train and the tap are

portrayed to be live beings.
Reception
 Bhimayana was reviewed widely by magazines and newspapers such as
the Times Literary Supplement, the Journal of Folklore Research, CNN
and The Hindu and got extremely positive response.

 The Journal of Folklore Research called the fusion of a political

narrative and Gond painting in Bhimayana ‘innovative and striking’,
locating it in the stream of international graphic-journalism that uses
the graphic medium to engage with political narratives. It also
discussed the multi-layered visual language of the book, where the
form of a single element on the page often becomes the site of
another element, such as Ambedkar's face on page 68 which is also the
park where Ambedkar took shelter before leaving for Bombay.
 Journalist, curator and writer Paul Gravett has included Bhimayana in
1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die. He was present at the
Tate launch of the book in London and has discussed it in his essay on
Indian comics.
He discusses the art at length, saying, ‘The pages I have seen are wonderful,
their figures and clothes drawn in intense patterning, faces mainly in profile
with large single eyes, and their pages divided into panels by curving,
decorated borders. Accusing, pointing fingers are repeated in one panel.
Even the balloons have shapes and tails uniquely their own: bird-like
outlines for regular speech; a scorpion’s sting as the tail for venomous
dialogue; and a distinctive eye in the thought bubbles to represent the
mind’s eye. What better art to retell this tale today?’

 According to The Hindu: ‘To call Bhimayana a “book” would amount to a

trivialisation—it is a magnificent work of breathtaking art that
symbolises the soul-stirring biography of an exceptional leader’.

 Amitava Kumar, writer and journalist, reviewing it on JJ Books,

recommended the book highly, saying, ‘At the end, you feel you have
gained knowledge but you need to enter, spiritually and politically, into
the book’s larger world to become a participant in a new world’.

 In 2014, it became part of a compulsory paper in the English

undergraduate degree syllabus
LINKS TO KNOW MORE
ABOUT BHIMAYANA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhimayana
http://www.tcj.com/reviews/bhimayana-experiences-of-untouchability/
https://graphicshelf.com/bhimayana-experiences-untouchability/
THANK
YOU!